And it just keeps dragging on

It's been a week here. Sorry, Never found my way to the computer to make a blog post last night. Heck, my eyes were shutting down at 8 as I tried to listen to the end of a book and knit on a project that REALLY needs to be off the needles.  Because I'm so done with it.

All the knitters, or any crafter knows what I'm talking about. Hell, anyone with any kind of "project" knows this feeling. That feeling that this item needs to get off the radar. Be done so you never have to look at it again. Don't worry, when it's done I'll post the pattern so you all can have the joy of it too. It's not that bad, it's just tedious now that I'm almost done because it's a lot of knitting. And by a lot, I mean A LOT.

So, instead of knitting, I've been doing more weaving. I was right about just needing more practice with the loom. This project warped up in 6 hours although it's more ends than the previous one. All though, another lesson learned, keep the hairy yarn as weft only, or at least don't thread it through heddles until fully wound on. It's a bitch winding your warp on through the heddles when it's all stuck to it's hairy self! The yarn is actually a fun cotton acrylic nylon blend. I know, I'can't believe I just praised an acrylic, but it's one of those amazing ones that doesn't feel like an acrylic. And it has a mohair haze, feels like mohair, and I know it's the acrylic that does it! Crazy. This piece is going to have a nice little halo when it's all done. The colors as usual in a pic aren't quite right and the striping looks a bit more bold than it really is.

Let's play the "name that plant" game, shall we? If you know what they are, throw them in the comments. I would love to know what all these beautiful flowers I live around are.

But alas, I ran out of yarn for that project so while I await other yarn, I will return to the two knitting projects I'm so thoroughly done with. Maybe I can keep my eyes open tonight since I'm not near so tired? Yeah right. I was up by 430 and at work before 6 today, but I'll give it a shot after dinner.

Speaking of dinner, check these out bad boys out... Shrimp tacos! That's what I made last night. I sautéed the shrimp up in olive oil after letting them sit in lime juice, toasted sesame oil, cumin, garlic, and fresh pepper and sea salt for a while. Then I simply chopped up some green onion, radish, cucumber, roma tomatoes, cilantro, radish, and fresh mango, with more lime juice and a splash of rice vinegar. Mashed up some avocados into fresh guacamole and threw it all on a tortilla. I had mentioned shrimp tacos to The Guy earlier in the weekend and he looked at me like I was crazy, so I made a convert of him. Of course, he would have been happier without the veggie salsa and if I just gave him a bottle of ketchup, but oh well. He got what he got.

Oh, the mangos are those little yellow ones. I find them here often and they are so tasty. I think I prefer them over the regular larger green and red ones.

the Guy was gone again last week, so my life was dog walks and sleeping when not at work. Though at least I was off work by 7 all last week. Better than after 8 as the last two weeks had been. So that was nice.

And with spring solidly here, we had sun late enough that it was light for the evening walks and it was coking up during the morning walks. Makes it just feel better to have the sun light on you. And it makes my freckles pop.

You don't have to tell me what these are, thanks... I know what a tulip is.

this year, Spring is well ahead of where it was this time last year. We had very few blooms when we moved in at the end of May, and this year we have already burned through the Daffodils, and are now deep into Tulip and Muscari season. And every variety of Lilly we have is up and reaching for the sky though it will be quite sometime before we get blossoms. And the Iris's (Thanks Kim!) are getting ready to bloom!

The Pears and Apples have already bloomed out and I saw a hummingbird buzzing around the deck today so we hung the feeders up before our passing rain storm dropped it all on us. As I type this though, the sun is out, and the birds are singing.

Speaking of singing birds, I need to get some video recordings I have up and posted next week. I swear, the other day I just wanted to open a window and shout for everything to be quite for 5 minutes. Then I realized two things. One, it wouldn't have worked anyway, and two, I like the sounds even when I miss the quiet occasionally. Between the night and evening bug and amphibian calls, and the morning to afternoon bird calls, I was just missing a bit of quiet the other day. But I got over it.

Other things that I haven't gotten over... I don't think I've told you about my little strike agains all things J & K. J &K you ask? Yes, J and K, because I don't want anyone who even googles either of the family names to get a hit off my blog, because I am so sick of hearing these names and doubt that unless one of them goes on a shooting spree, that they will do anything that should be reported on, regardless of what the rest of the media-sphere thinks. Still stumped? Let's try this, I'm speaking of the J3nn3r and K4rd4sh14n tribes. Think that will stop them from popping up in a search engine?

Seriously. Why do I care if one of them wants to have sex reassignment surgery? Wait, I don't. To boot, I'm concerned by anyone who truly does care whether Bruce is an innie or an outie, besides a member of his actual inner circle. For that matter, I don't care about one of his step children's latest public wardrobe failures or paparazzi snapped cellulite. On top of that, I find it insulting that new agencies, and I use that term as loosely as possible if they cover one of these "stories" think that they are worthy of even a sidebar. So, I've gone on the J & K strike. If I pull up a news web page, or have the television on, and any member of this family is even mentioned, I either close the browser window immediately, or change channels or turn off the television. They get no more of my time for they mean nothing to me and I sure as hell know they aren't wasting their time worrying about me. And if that "news agency" thinks thats news worthy, I don't bother reading anymore of their coverage of anything for the day because I doubt anything else they see as important news will be worth my time.

And a little tip out there for anyone who manages to get themselves arrested. Don't run. Don't scream, don't shout. Do exactly what the officer tells you to do and be respectful. If you can't keep the words out of your mouth clean, keep your mouth shut. You can rant and rave later in the court room, in holding, or with your lawyer. When you are helpless at another's hands and they have weapons at their disposal and your next thirty minutes are in their hands, it's time to shut it down. Is this the way it should be, I think it is. Your actions in some form have gotten you in the system from that first contact with an officer, you now behave as the system deems appropriate or your pay a price.

Cops have a shitty job guys. They deal with people at their worse. Doing so gets their juices going. When you walk into a situation and even if you are the only one who perceives a threat to you, your adrenaline pumps and you become reactive. Someone who becomes reactive is not logic in motion. Add to that, that their underlying personality may be an asshole, and you are now possibly at the mercy of an armed asshole. So behave in a manner that won't assure that you get your ass handed to you.

I understand there's two sides to every story. I do. I understand that we don't know all the fact about any death, much less those at the hands of law enforcement officers. But I also see how ones own actions causes a situation to spiral downward. I've met plenty of cops in the various jobs I've worked. And just like in all the jobs I worked some of my coworkers were great and a joy to be around, some were pricks, same goes for any police force. Any group of people has a few dicks in it. Hell, any group of people has a few racist pigs in it, even if they keep it mostly to themselves. The problem in any group of people is that the assholes tend to stick together, and if one gets some power behind them, they stick up and pull strings for the other assholes. You don't know when you are being cuffed if you have one of the good guys that are doing their job and feel that they are serving their community, or if you have a giant prick with a badge that makes him feel like he IS the law. Is that a game of roulette you are really willing to play? Then again, your juices are probably flowing too, and you're not logic in motion either. So take a deep breath here.

To change a system, you have to work within the system to identify the problems and resolve them. Not get yourself into the hands of the very dicks you're pissed at by holding riots and committing more crime. It doesn't make the general public that you have now destroyed their property, or hurt their loved ones who were in no way responsible for any of it, sympathetic to your cries either.

Make your mother's happy, and get yourself home safely. Everything goes better with some respect and compassion from both sides, even when you have to dig deep to find it. I'm tired of turning on the news to see a kid getting themselves shot, and then more kids risking the same all for a chance to shout at what they perceive is their enemy. I can't imagine what their families feel like putting their kids in the ground and can only imagine the hurt, the pain, and the hate such things cause, and isn't it amazing how hate never manages to find the right target?

Okay, that got way to serious there... Want to hear a joke?

A Lutheran man walks into the lingerie department of Macy's in New York City. He tells the sales lady, "I would like a Lutheran bra for my wife, size-34B."

With a quizzical look the sales lady asks, "What kind of bra?"

He repeats, "A Lutheran bra. My wife said to tell you that she wanted a Lutheran bra, and that you would know what she wanted."

"Oh, yes, now I understand," says the sales lady. "We don't get as many requests for them as we used to. Most of our customers lately want the Catholic bra, the Salvation Army bra, or the Presbyterian bra."

Confused, and a little flustered, the man asks, "So, what are the differences?"

The sales lady responds. "It's really quite simple. The Catholic bra supports the masses, the Salvation Army bra lifts up the fallen, and the Presbyterian bra keeps them staunch and upright."

He muses on that information for a minute and says, "Hmm. I know I'll regret asking, but what does the Lutheran bra do?"

"Ah," she replied, "the Lutheran bra makes mountains out of molehills!!!"

~As seen in an email that was circulated. Sorry, I don't know who to give credit to

Isn't it amazing how a joke about bra's and their contents just lightens up the mood. If you have nay regarding jock straps and their contents, just plop it right there in the comments. They always light my mood too.

Sullivan says, "Goodnight"